Monday, March 18, 2013

Last week I received a few new Mary Kay items including their new Zen in Bloom Collection for Spring 2013- I've broken it up, there's a bit too much to review it all togher. Once I got past how pretty the limited edition floral packaging was, I realized I was just itching to dig into these little pots. There is just something about a pot of gloss that makes my heart pitter-patter.

Now, I know that at the beginning of this post I expressed my excitement over these, but in reality, there was simultaneously a bit of dread.

'Dread?' you say. 'Yes, dread.' I say.

The fact that these are named lip lacquers bothered me. Don't get me wrong, I love alliterations, but that word. Lacquer. I like it for many things, but not so much on my lips. I envision something really sticky, thick and generally unpleasant. Luckily these lacquers are nothing like that. At all. They're actually pretty fantastic.

When you dip your brush into them the top layer melts away to expose their glossy gorgeousness with almost a creamy texture. On lips these feel more like a balm than a gloss, with only the slightest bit of tackiness. Super comfortable while wearing and decent wear time too- about 3-4 hours, which is pretty decent for a gloss with such little tack. I found that Pink Pagoda stuck around a bit longer, but that's more the shade itself than the formula.

Like the Cream Eye Colour (here) these are housed in all plastic pots (lid and pot.) Again, at this price point it would have been nice to see these in glass pots. It is nice that the lip bushes are included though. They're a little tricky to maneuver with as they're spring loaded and don't lock into place. You have to make sure to hold the lever down the entire time you apply or you're going to get gloss all up in the brush. The quality of the brush is excellent- nicely soft and picks up gloss well.

Chai Latte is a pink tinged, creamy nude. In the pot, it just looks like another standard nude, but once you dip into it you can see it's something more. The pink tones balance with the caramel shade and make this one perfect type of nude. This shade has great pigmentation and a great glossy finish. Just look at it... I love it!

Mary Kay Zen in Bloom Collection Lip Lacquers- Pink Pagoda*

Pink Pagoda is a red toned fuchsia shade with a light smattering of violet micro shimmer. In the pot the shade looks quite intense, but it's not as opaque as Chai Latte, and is a really wearable tone. The texture of Pink Pagoda is more jelly-like than the Creamy feel of Chai Latte.

Overall, I'm not going to deny it, I'm totally into these- especially Chai Latte! Having not used many Mary Kay products in the past, I'm beginning to think I've really been missing out. The Zen in Bloom Collection is limited edition and is available from March 16th to May 15th on marykay.com. I suggest snapping these up while you can!